Our Carli is a Blessing - A Gift From Heaven Above

A WEE BIT OF HEAVEN DRIFTED DOWN FROM ABOVE

YOU LIGHT UP THE WORLD WITH YOUR SWEET BABY CHARMS

Monday, March 31, 2008

I am thankful for - our parents. Both sets of our parents have been nothing but supportive to Keith and I. They have shared in our joy, prayed for us through my/our "health issues," and are a constant in our lives. I am thankful for their different views on situations, for their advise and respect of our decisions. God has truly blessed me with wonderful parents, and an amazing set of in-laws.

Mom and Me

I am thankful for - grandparents. My Grandma is the most unselfish person I know, and she deals with a lot every day; yet, twice a week she takes time to listen to my woes and offer advice. An amazing woman, and I am so proud to call her my Grandma. Thanks Grandma for the advice, for the hugs, and for your prayers. You are very special to me. My Pawpaw, always puts a smile on my face. Though he may not remember everything like he use to, and little things frustrate him - he is very much a blessing to me and an encouragement as well. Grandpa Herb, I loved listening to Keith call to tell you our news. Your reaction was just, well, happy. You were truly happy for us. I am anxious to get to know you better and know you will be a valuable part of this little baby's life.

I am thankful for - family. We have lots of family, whether you are blood relation or not, you know who you are. Thanks for the cards, the emails and the calls. Thanks especially to my brothers and sister-in-law who have made a tremendous effort to check in every week (although Andy tends to want to talk about golf, he still calls!). Thanks to my brother in law who is purchasing in a house with a pool, just especially for his new neice/nephew (right Kevin?). Yes, God has given us a large family and we are thankful for their presence in our lives.

I am thankful for - puppy dogs! Yes, I do love my puppy dogs. They make me smile everyday. They are my companions throughout the day, are so excited to see me even when I'm having a bad day. They forget my flaws and love me even if I'm having an "ugly" day. My dogs are priceless.

Here are the dogs, really excited about the Easter gift Tessie sent them!

I am thankful for - friends! Both old friends and new. Thanks to all my far away friends who have sent me emails and called. Thanks for understanding why I simply didn't call every one of you to tell you our news. Thanks for being so excited for us, and for your prayers and support. To all our friends here in Tyler, thanks for just being there for us. God truly has blessed us by putting you in our lives, and we are thankful for you.

I am thankful for - anti-nausa pills. This are the best invention EVER! And guess what, I haven't had to take one for three days! Woohoo! Maybe that doctor does know what he is talking about and I will start feeling like myself again...at least until I can't see my toes b/c my belly sticks out too far. But surely that's better than feeling like I'm going to be sick every day!

I am thankful for - Keith. Poor Keith. Girls, if you think you are the only one who experiences the "joys" of pregnancy, let me tell you it's not true. Your husband will be absolutely beside himself b/c he can't fix what is wrong and it really doesn't help his feelings when you blame it all on him either. He takes on a new role of not only having the job of hearing a daily report of the changes you are experiencing with your body, but he also probably will end up doing a lot of the household chores. Keith has gotten very good at going to the grocery store. He is very patient, has yet to get upset with me for my frequently changing meal choices and has made more trips to CVS right before the store closes than I count on my fingers. He hasn't missed a doctor's appt., he tells me I look good (even when I know I don't), he gives me a hug everyday, has yet to get mad at me when I lose my phone (again) and agreeably drives all over Tyler just to look at this or that. Keith's patience actually use to drive me insane. Isn't funny how God does that to you? Yes, God really did give me someone I didn't deserve.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Sorry for the delay in posting lately - lots has gone on and not much time to report about it.

Keith is feeling better. He actually found a really good chiropractor who also does acupunture - interesting, but it works! I actually am going to try this out tomorrow. We'll see if he can help with my aches and pains of this changing body.

This weekend we went to Tucson for a meeting with our EM America Resellers. The actual meeting went well. Getting to Tucson was not so much fun! We were suppose to leave out Tyler on Wednesday night. None of us like flying on those little jumper flights, but it sure is convenient. We didn't have such a positive experience with American last time, so this time we were suppose to take Continental. We got to the airport with time to spare on Wednesday only to be told that our flight was delayed and b/c of this delay we would now miss our connecting flight in Houston. Okay - no big deal right? We'll just be put on the next flight out. Not so easy - b/c even though it is Contenental's fault that we would not make this connecting flight - they could not get us to Tucson before 5 or 10 pm the following day. Not a lot a good news for us - since we had meetings starting at 9 am the next day!

To say the least it was a bit frustrating! Contenental would not even book us on another airline - nothing. Finally, the lady gave us a number to call - we got our money back. But still we had no way of getting to Tucson! I called Southwest. We love Southwest. The ppl were very helpful - they helped to find us a flight and even though Tucson was all booked up, they got us to Phoenix. It even cost the same as the flight we had just cancelled. The bad news was that we had to drive to Houston and leave at 6 am on Thursday morning. So that's what we did...drove to Houston, got a hotel at 2:45 am - slept for 2 hrs and left for the airport. Got to Phoenix, rented a car and drove for 2 hrs and managed to get to our meeting only 30 minutes late. Shew.

It was a long weekend and now we are heading home. We should get to Houston at 6 pm tonite, and then have 3 hrs to drive home. At least the flight isn't stressful as there are no connections. How's that for finding a positive in a hectic, tiring situation! :)

All in all the wkd wasn't too bad and we had good meetings and a good turn out. Plus - the baby got to go to its first baseball game and the Rangers won!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

We just spent the last two days at the doctor - and it wasn't for me! I'm not sure whether to be happy about that or not. Keith has had a horrible headached since Sunday night. First we blamed it on the huge knot on the back of his neck and when it woke him up on Monday night and he couldn't sleep - he finally decided he would go to the doctor. So yesterday he went to the chiropractor. His neck was so tight, the chiropractor couldn't really do much for him, but gave him some pointers and sent him home. After that morning appointment, I left him at home with the puppy dogs to care for him and instructions to drink lots and lots of water and I headed out to Alto to work. He felt fine last night.

But then, last night at about 2 am he woke up again with a headache and difficulty breathing. I don't think he went back to sleep. At 7 he woke me up and had decided he wanted to go to the clinic - so that's what we did. Turns out the poor guy has a "wanna-be" flu virus. Which isn't as bad as the real flu virus b/c it doesn't last near as long but just as miserable to deal with. He doesn't have all the head congestion - yet; and, he may not. But his difficulty in breathing is from the virus infecting his respiratory system.

With my chief grocery shopper sick (I've only been to the store once since I found out I was pregnant), and no apple juice in the house - we both agreed we would suck it up on the way home and stop and get some of the essentials. So with me holding my breath as we passed the fresh seafood section and other really weird smells and Keith barely walking behind the cart - we found the all important apple juice, grabbed some fruit and veggies and some chicken noodle soup. Once home, I drugged him with some Tylonel PM (so he would sleep) and miraculously heated up the soup without any adverse reactions. He ate his soup and is sound asleep in the guest room, his choice, not mine.

So, when you have a chance, send up a quick prayer for Keith. I think this is the first time he has been really sick since I've known him! I, on the other hand, am learning to breathe through my mouth and do things like cleaning the kitchen - Keith had been doing this for me, but hasn't since Monday for obvious reasons. I can't put it off any longer!

On a brighter note, we did buy Shea a new hacky sack. For those who don't know, Shea is our little momma-to-be dog, yes Keith has two pregnant women in his house. And in her last pregnancy she faithfully carried around a suede hacky sack, gave it baths and loved the stuffing out of it - literally. After she had her puppies, she lost all interest in her replacement hacky and we lost track of it. Since we are pretty sure she is pregnant again, we decided to get her another hacky - two in fact, a blue and pink one (Keith is calling them Chunky - after her boy puppy Chunky Butt - and Juicy - see picture).

Shea with her beloved "Juicy"

Thanks to everyone who has voted and left comments! It's good to know who has been checking in on us! Hope everyone is staying healthy and enjoying this beautiful weather!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Over a year ago, I started one of these blogs thinking that I might actually keep up with it and be a "blogger". Clearly, blogging is not my strength, as I made it approximately 4 days. But, the mother-to-be insists that I post, so here I sit. As most of you know, sharing my thoughts with others is not really my strong point, so when she suggested that I post about how I feel about our situation, I offered up "I'm excited" as my post...which is definitely not good enough (I'm learning to "read" her "looks").

A lot of people have asked me what I want, a boy or a girl? Most are very surprised when I say that I'd like a girl. Now obviously, I don't really care, but there is something inside me that hopes it's a girl. A big reason, is because I want to see both of our dads completely melt at anything she says or does. I think they would do close to the same with a boy, but they both have big soft spots for little girls, and I think it would be a joy to see. Either way, it's going to be a blast and something I really look forward to.

So there is a whole paragraph of substance, I think I'll call this first posting a success! Any questions/ideas for posting would be much appreciated...I'm being told this will be a regular occurrence.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Our parents are giddy, excited and smiling non stop. And on Monday morning we mailed out about 100 of our "Baby Announcement" cards. We sent them mostly to family and close friends - if you didn't get one - we're sorry. We ordered first then had to whittle our list down quite a bit. If you did get one, please do share with whom ever you wish. Keith and I neither one are good at calling people and we felt this was a good way to let everyone know of our exciting news.

We really wish we could tell everyone in person - the reactions we have gotten from people at work and our friends in town have been priceless. Please share in our joy and feel free to comment on our blog. We want to use this blog in order to stay in contact with all our friends and family who live so far away from us. Please check back often and comment! We would love to hear from you!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The night was a success! Even without a reservation at Olive Garden, we only had to wait 10 minutes. Dinner was great - our parents were a bit surprised when Keith took the check and paid for everyone. But it worked well into our plan, b/c when we gave them their cards they just assumed that dinner was a part of the Thank You from us to them.

Terry & Tessie Reading Their Card

Dwayne and Cassie Reading Their Card

Then, we gave our Mom's their gifts. I'm not sure what they were expecting but the look on Terry's face is priceless! With my Mom and Dad, it was like everything made sense now! ha! I'd been looking a little pale apparently! Watch the video - it is pretty funny.

All in all, the night was a success. By now, all of Amarillo knows our news! It was a fun night. Today we are off to Canton, but our first stop is Cracker Barrel!